Hey, if you’re feeling depressed, confused, unmotivated, whatever it may be, cut the nonsense and do the hard work. Delete all your social media apps and video games. Stop scrolling. Put down your phone and get to work. Take out a piece of paper, list what needs to be done, and start working.

Here’s an interesting term that I heard today: “brain points”. The idea is that in the morning, you start with 100 brain points. Every little thing you do reduces them. Scrolling your phone first thing in the morning? Minus 5 points. Skipping a morning walk? Minus 5 points. Not eating breakfast and laying on the couch watching TV? Minus 20 points. By the time you’re ready to work, you’ve already lost 30 points, leaving you groggy and feeling like you’ve wasted time. How can you compete with someone who starts with all 100 points?

Keep this in mind. Don’t make excuses. If you’re feeling stuck, start by following a morning routine, and getting up on time. If you’re struggling to wake up early, go to bed earlier. A consistent morning routine builds momentum, but losing that momentum and staying up late reduces your efficiency, leading to a lower brain-point total the next day because you’ve exhausted yourself at night without quality sleep. If you’re every debating if you should go to bed or stay up, go to bed, do a mental math, and see how many brain points you have left. In most cases, you’ll find that you’re already in the negative.

Stop making excuses, “subtract” all distractions, and focus your brain points on the most important tasks. Do the hard work, especially when you don’t feel like it. You’ll thank yourself later.